Firearm cartridge protector



May l5, 1956 c. E. RUPLE RIRRARM CARTRIDGE PROTECTOR Filed May 2o. 1952 Vul FIREARM cartrnrnoa Pnoracron Carl E. Ruple, Colorado Springs, Coto., assigner to Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, a corporation of Virginia Application May 2h, 1952, Serial No. Ztii Claims. (Cl. 42-50) This invention relates to firearms of the box-magazine type.

There has been considerable complaint about the damage suered by cartridges in the steel magazines of firearms or guns caused by the recoil of the latter on firing, and the dangers involved in firing these damaged cartridges. Especially severe criticism in this respect has been voiced by many big-game hunters who frequently find high-power soft-nosed cartridges in the magazines of their guns so battered as to render them useless and even dangerous for firing. Thus, cartridges of the soft-nose type are frequently attened or otherwise deformed in the magazine by the guns recoil and the ensuing impact between the cartridges and magazine, with the result that these deformed cartridges will frequently jam in the gun when advanced into the firing chamber, or will take an erratic course if they do not jam in the gun and are fired. It requires little imagination to realize how exasperating and even dangerous gun failure from this source is to game hunters. Thus, any jammed cartridge will most likely not be noticed by a hunter until the very moment when game is in the sight of his gun and he wants to fire, resulting in frequent loss of game, not to mention wasted cartridges. Moreover, hunters Sometimes endanger their lives when gun failure from this source occurs at an encounter With big game of the dangerous variety. The recoil of a gun is also damaging to steel-jacketed cartridges in the magazine thereof. Thus, the impact between these cartridges and the magazine in consequence of the recoil of the gun will frequently drive a steel jacket deeper into its cartridge case, with the result that there is insuicient expansion space in the latter when the same is fired and excessive pressures develop therein which may well burst the cartridge case and even cause damage to the gun itself. It follows, therefore, that even the latest firearms of the box-magazine type are not only unreliable in their performance and sometimes a source of great exasperation to the user, but involve some risk to the users welfare as well.

Accordingly, it is the primary aim and object of the present invention to provide a gun of the box-magazine type which is not afflicted with any of the above-mentioned serious defects in performance, and which is instead reliable in its performance at all times and involves no personal danger to the user despite the recoil of the gun with every shot.

It is another object of the present invention to provide in the magazine of a gun of this type a shock absorber which will greatly reduce, if not eliminate altogether, the heretofore unavoidable impact between the magazine and the cartridges therein on each recoil of tional cartridges or without interfering in the least with the accustomed loading of the magazine with cartridges.

Another object of the present invention is to provide in the magazine of a gun of this type a shock absorber which does not require any changes in the conventional construction of the various gun parts.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a shock absorber of the aforementioned type which is of exceedingly simple construction, lends itself to efficient mass production at very low cost, and may readily be assembled with magazines of guns at the factory or replaced therein at any time by the owner of a gun.

Further objects and advantages will appear to those skilled in the art from the following, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, in which certain modes of carrying out the present invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a magazine-type gun embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary part-sectional and part-elevational view of a part of the gun shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the gun as taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the magazine used in the gun of Figs. l and 2;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the magazine as taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through a gun embodying a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line 8 8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through a gun embodying another modified form of the invention; and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through a gun embodying a further modified form of the invention.

For the purpose of describing the invention, the same is shown incorporated in the box-magazine of a bolt-action type of firearm. It will be appreciated, however, that the particular firearm illustrated herein is merely for the purpose of describing one application of the invention and that the latter is applicable to other firearms of the type having a box-magazine.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 2, the bolt-action firearm embodies, in the main, a receiver indicated generally at 1G and having threadedly secured to its forward end a barrel 13, the forward end of the receiver being provided with locking shoulders 14 for coaction with the locking lugs 15 on the forward end of an upturn and pull-back breech-bolt 16. The breech-bolt 16 is adapted to reciprocate in the central bore 17 of the receiver which has a loading and ejecting opening 18 in the top wall thereof intermediate its opposite ends. The locking lugs 15 of the bolt 16 are adapted to slide in guide grooves of the receiver and to be rotated through a quarter turn when the bolt is in its extreme forward position to coact with the locking shoulders 14 of the receiver to lock the bolt in breech-closing position.

The receiver and barrel assembly is mounted on a solid stock 19 and secured thereto by assembling-screws 20. The stock 19 is provided with a box-magazine receiving aperture 21 which is substantially in alignment with the opening i8 of the receiver. The open bottom end of the aperture 21 in the stock is adapted to be closed by a floor plate 22 which is hinged at its forward end to the underside of the stock by means of a hinge-strap 23 which is seated in a recess in the stock and secured therein by one of the aforesaid assembling-screws 20. The rear end of the hinged floor plate 22 is adapted to be engaged by a spring-loaded latch 24 which serves to 3 hold the floor plate in its normal closed position (Fig. 2

)Mounted in the aperture 21 in the stock 19 is a boxmagazine 25 in the lform of a substantially rectangular sheet-metal frame having opposite side walls 25a `and opposite end walls 251; arranged to engage securely the adjacent walls of the aperture 21 (Figs. 2 and 3). The open bottom of the box-magazine 25 is normally closed by the hinged floor plate 22.

The box-magazine 25 is of the top-loading type adapted to accommodate a column of staggered cartridges c for their successive feed into the breech of the barrel 13 for chambering by the breech-bolt 16, the feed means for the cartridges in the box-magazine 25 comprising a cartridge follower 26 and a follower spring 26a for supporting and actuating the follower 26. The lower end of the follower spring 26a is releasably secured to the hinged oor plate 422, and to this end the upper surface of the floor plate 22 is provided with a relatively shallow recess 27 (Figs. 2 and 3), having a front end wall 28 and a rear end wall 29, the over-all length of the recess 27 being somewhat greater than the length of the lowermost leaf 30 of the follower spring 26a. The width of the recess 27 corresponds substantially to the width of the aforesaid leaf 3f) of the follower spring 26a and the spring leaf 30 is adapted to be seated in the recess 27 in the oor plate 22. For releasably mounting the bottom leaf 30 of the follower spring 26a in the recess 27, the opposite side walls of the recess adjacent the forward end of the latter are provided with inwardly projecting overhanging lips 31 (Figs. 2 and 6) beneath which the free end of the spring leaf 30 is securely held in the recess 27. The follower 26 is in the form of a relatively stiff sheet-metal strip which is slightly curved cross-sectionally and has its opposite side margins 32 turned inwardly (Fig. 3) so as to reinforce the strip and afford a scat against which rests the top-most leaf 33 of the follower spring 26a. The inwardly turned side margins 32 of the strip are provided intermediate their respective lengths with downwardly offset portions 32a, respectively (Fig. 2) which are turned inwardly to form opposite lips for securely holding the follower 26 on the top leaf 33 of the follower spring 26a. By unlatching the hinged oor plate 22 and swinging it open, the car tridge follower 26 and follower spring 26a are withdrawn from the box-magazine 25, in which case the follower 26 and its spring 26a may readily be detached as a unit from the floor plate 22.

The gun described so far may be entirely conventional in every respect and forms no part of the present invention. The invention to be described presently lies in the provision of a shock absorber 35 in the cartridge magazine 25 (Figs. 2, 4 and 5). The shock absorber 35 is, in the present instance, in the form of a pad of any suitable resiliently compressible material which is suitably mounted on the inside of the front wall 25h of the magazine 25. Thus, the shock absorber pad 35 may conveniently be made of relatively soft solid rubber, or even sponge rubber, and may be cemented or otherwise secured to the front wall 25h of the magazine 25. As shown in Fig. 2, the magazine 25 is preferably of such length that the cartridges c therein fit between the rear wall 25h of the magazine 25 and the shock absorber pad 35 therein suciently loosely to permit ready loading of the magazine with cartridges and the unimpeded feed of the latter into chambering position by the springurged follower 26 without allowing these cartridges any appreciable longitudinal play. Thus, with the exception of the uppermost cartridge in the magazine whose nose c' is spaced from the adjacent receiver 10 sufficiently to preclude any impact with the latter on a recoil of the gun, the noses of the other cartridges c in the magazine are closely adjacent the shock absorber pad 35 and will resiliently compress the latter momentarily on each recoil of the gun without any damage whatsover to the cartridges.

It is by the simple ,expediency of this shock absorber pad 35 that the hereinbefore mentioned serious defects in the performance of conventional box-magazine firearms are overcome, and the latter are rendered reliable in their performance and no longer involve any personal danger to the users thereof. The instant shock absorber pad 35 is further eminently practical for manufacturing and assembly reasons. Thus, the shock absorber pad will reliably perform its designated function without requiring any structural changes either in the conventional cartridges or in the conventional construction of the various gun parts. Further, the shock absorber pad does not in the least interfere with the accustomed loading and handling of the gun. The shock absorber pad further adds neither bulk nor weight of any consequence to the gun. Finally, the shock absorber pad is an exceedingly simple article which. lends itself to efficient mass production at very low cost, and may readily be assembled with magazines of guns at the factory or later replaced therein at any time by the owners of these guns.

While the shock absorber pad 35 is incorporated in the box-magazine 25 of the double-column cartridge feed type shown by way of example in the drawings, it is obvious that the shock absorber pad can be incorporated with equal advantage in a box-magazine of the wellknown single-column cartridge feed type.

Figs. 7 and 8 show a modified shock absorber pad arrangement. Thus, the shock absorber pad 35' may in lall respects be like the previously described pad 35, but the same is in this instance not fully backed by the adjacent front wall 25b of the magazine 25', and instead covers a cut-out opening 40 in this front wall. The opening 4f) may be rectangular (Fig. 8) and of a size to leave a frame-like portion 42 of the front wall for suitably mounting thereon the pad 35. With this arrangement, the shock absorber pad 35 will not only be yieldingly compressed thickness-wise, but may also be flexed into the wall opening 40 in the magazine, by the cartridges c on each recoil of the gun.

Fig. 9 shows another modified shock absorber arrangement. Thus, a shock absorber pad 35" may be suitably mounted in an opening 40 in the adjacent front wall 25b of the magazine 25". The opening 40 may be exactly like the opening 40 in the magazine 25 (Fig. 8), so that the instant shock absorber pad will be flush or substantially ush with the frame-like portion 42' of the magazine wall 2511 which defines the opening 40',and, hence, surround the shock absorber pad 35".

Instead of providing the shock-absorbing rubber pad on the inside of the magazine, the rubber pad may also be provided externally of the magazine between the noses of the inserted cartridges in the magazine and the adjacent wall of the magazine-receiving aperture in the gun stock. Thus, a shock absorber pad 35'" of the form shown in Fig. lO may be interposed betweenthe front magazine wall 25b and the adjacent spaced end wall 21a of the magazine-receiving aperture in the gun stock, and the pad 35 may be provided with a projecting portion 46 which is fittedly received in an opening 40 in the front magazine wall 25h. The opening 40 may be exactly like the opening 4t) in the magazine 25 (Fig. 8), so that the projecting portion 46 of the instant shock absorber pad 35" will be liush or substantially flush with the frame-like portion 42 of the magazine wall 25h" which defines the opening 40".

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive,

. and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. A recoil-absorbing box-magazine for use with a firearm, comprising a rigid frame having opposite sidewalls and opposite endwalls for the reception of a plurality of cartridges in orderly column arrangement; and a shock absorber pad of resiliently compressible material mounted in said frame and lining only that endwall thereof which is nearest the noses of the inserted cartridges, said shock absorber pad confronting those noses of the inserted cartridges in said frame which are within the confines of the latter, and being resiliently compressed on impact with the adjacent cartridge noses.

2. A recoil-absorbing box-magazine for use with a firearm, comprising a rigid frame having opposite sidewalls and opposite end walls for the reception of a plurality of cartridges in orderly column arrangement; and a pad of resilient rubber mounted in said frame and 1inng only one endwall thereof which is nearest the noses of the inserted cartridges, said rubber pad confronting those noses of the inserted cartridges in said frame which are within the confines of the latter, and being resiliently compressed on impact with the adjacent cartridge noses.

3. A recoil-absorbing box-magazine as set forth in claim 2, in which said one endwall is provided with an aperture of such size that a portion of the pad covers said aperture and confronts those noses of the inserted cartridges in said frame which are within the contines of the latter, wherefore said pad portion is also resiliently flexible into said aperture on impact with the adjacent cartridge noses.

4. A recoil-absorbing box-magazine as set forth in claim 2, in which said one endwall of the frame is provided with an.aperture, and said rubber pad is mounted in said aperture.

5. A recoil-absorbing box-magazine as set forth in claim 2, in which said one endwall of the frame is provided with an aperture, and said rubber pad is mounted in said aperture and is substantially ush with the inner surface of said one endwall of the frame.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 304,008 Krug Aug. 26, 1884 513,237 Kimball Ian. 23, 1894 572,361 Johnson Dec. 1, 1896 1,227,439 Hilgendorf May 22, 1917 1,370,617 Thompson Mar. 8, 1921 FOREIGN PATENTS 35,539 Austria Dec. 10, 1908 

